Beirut, July 5 (IANS) A Hezbollah member was killed, and seven civilians were injured in Israeli airstrikes and artillery shelling in southern Lebanon, Lebanese military sources said.

The military sources, who spoke anonymously, told Xinhua news agency that Israel carried out 12 airstrikes targeting nine towns and villages, and its artillery bombed 17 border towns and villages, killing a Hezbollah member and injuring seven civilians on Thursday.

The sources noted that the Hezbollah member was killed, and three civilians were injured in an Israeli raid targeting a house in the village of Houla.

In another Israeli strike in the village of Kfarchouba, a shell falling on a house wounded two civilians, while two others were injured in a bombing on the southeastern town of Shebaa, the sources added.

They specifically noted that four members of the Civil Defence sustained minor injuries and suffered suffocation while extinguishing a fire in the municipality of Kounine.

The sources indicated that the Israeli bombing destroyed 17 homes, damaged 35 others, and led to nine fires in the border area.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah announced that it attacked several Israeli military sites in retaliation for Israel’s assassination of its senior military commander, Mohammad Naameh Nasser, a day earlier.

Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border escalated on October 8, 2023, following a barrage of rockets launched by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah toward Israel in solidarity with Hamas’ attack on Israel the day before. Israel then retaliated by firing heavy artillery toward southeastern Lebanon.

The level of tension between Hezbollah and the Israeli army has escalated recently, as the Israeli military announced “its approval of operational plans for an attack on Lebanon.”

Meanwhile, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned that no place in Israel “will be safe” from his party’s missiles in the event of the outbreak of a war.

–IANS

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Khartoum, July 5 (IANS) At least 25 people drowned while fleeing the ongoing military clashes in the Sinnar State in central Sudan after their wooden boat capsized, local resistance committees announced.

“As the RSF (Rapid Support Forces) entered the area, at least 25 citizens, most of them women and children, died in a boat sinking accident east of Abu Hujar city, between the Al-Dibaiba and Luni villages,” the resistance committees in Sinnar said in a statement on Thursday.

The victims included entire families from the Al-Dibaiba village, reports Xinhua news agency, citing the statement, Xinhua news agency reported.

Over 55,400 people have fled Singa, the capital city of Sinnar state, since the clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary RSF expanded in June, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The Sudan conflict, which broke out in mid-April 2023, has led to at least 16,650 deaths, reported the OCHA in a June report.

Over 7.7 million people have been displaced internally within Sudan since the outbreak of the conflict, while about 2.2 million others have crossed borders into neighbouring countries, according to the figures released on June 25 by the UN International Organization for Migration.

–IANS

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Jerusalem, July 5 (IANS) An Israeli regulatory body has approved plans for building 5,295 new settler homes throughout the occupied West Bank, a settlement monitoring group said.

Peace Now, an Israeli-based settlement watchdog, stated in a press release that the Higher Planning Council of the Civil Administration approved the new construction during a two-day discussion on Wednesday and Thursday, reported Xinhua news agency.

The building plans include the expansion of settlements deep within the West Bank and the retroactive legalisation of three outposts, which were originally built by settlers without official Israeli permits.

As part of their legalisation, the statement said the three outposts, namely Mahane Gadi, Givat Hanan, and Kedem Arava, were declared “neighbourhoods” of existing settlements.

The approval of the new settler housing units came a day after Israeli authorities approved the appropriation of 12.7 square km of land in the West Bank, marking the largest single appropriation in about three decades.

Israel took control of the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war and has expanded settlements there ever since.

–IANS

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Los Angeles, July 5 (IANS) One person was dead and a Yellowstone National Park ranger was injured following a shooting at the park, according to park officials.

A press release issued by the US National Park Service said that rangers responded to a report of an individual with a firearm who was making threats overnight and on Thursday morning at Canyon Village in the central part of Yellowstone National Park, reported Xinhua news agency.

The suspect, whose identity was not released at this time, was killed after an exchange of gunfire with law enforcement rangers, authorities said, adding that one of the rangers was injured and was in stable condition.

Though there is no active threat to the public, the area around the scene is still closed while an investigation led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation is underway.

Yellowstone National Park, established in 1872, is the first national park of the United States. The park, located primarily in the state of Wyoming, attracts millions of visitors each year.

–IANS

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London, July 5 (IANS) After securing resounding win in the UK general election, Labour Party leader Keir Starmer said that his party is ready to restore Britain to the service for working people.

Addressing his supporters at a reception to celebrate his win in the election, Starmer thanked the people for the amazing reception.

The 61-year-old leader said, “The work of change begins today. Thank you so much for the amazing reception. We did it.”

Amid huge public applause, Starmer said, “You campaigned for it, you fought for it and you voted for it and now it has arrived. Change begins now…”

“It feels good, I have to be honest… Four-and-a-half-years of work… changing the party… This is what it is for… A changed Labour Party ready to serve our country, ready to restore Britain to the service of working people,” he said.

The Labour Party has secured the win on over 390 seats and comfortably crossed the halfway mark of 326 seats in the 650-member Parliament, BBC reported.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau congratulated Starmer on the win.

His address comes after UK Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak conceded defeat in the polls.

–IANS

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